(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a medical attendance bathtub bed for use in sleeping, bathing, medical care, etc. of a person who must be always laid in bed such as a handicapped person or a bedridden old person in a ward or a household.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
People who are always laid in bed as described above do not have any freedoms of daily getting up and go to bed and hence all need helpers or family attendants, and should lead a recuperation by the people's medical attendance or nurse. Problems of cleanliness of patient's body and evacuation are serious subjects for these patients and attendants. Regarding their bathing, a bath room equipped with a lift type bathing apparatus is installed in one room of a large hospital provided with regular facilities, and a patient who exhibits a light symptom can easily take a bath. When the hospital has a number of in-patients, the patient is still allowed to have a bath only several times per month. Since the patient must reciprocate between a sick room and a bath room, a heavily handicapped patient cannot easily have a bath. Since such a facility is difficult to be installed in a small-scale hospital or a household, the patient is bathed in a simple bathtub made of synthetic resin by holding the patient by a helper or an attendant, and since it is very heavy work, it is impossible to let the patient have a bath frequently.
There is a bathtub bed in which a mattress is detachably provided in a bathtub in order to easily let a patient have a bath in such a case (Refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 57-81344). This bathtub bed becomes a bed in a state that a mattress is contained therein and also becomes a bathtub by removing the mattress and supplying hot water thereto. A bare patient is placed on a hammock-shaped elevation net and hung down in the bathtub to which the hot water is supplied, washed and cleaned at his or her body, the elevation net is then lifted, hot water in the bathtub is drained, moisture on the body, net and bathtub is removed, dried, the mattress is returned into the bathtub, and the patient is again moved down to be laid on together with the net. Thus, the bathing problem of the bedridden patient can be solved, but there is still retained a problem of patient's discharge. More specifically, it is common to bring a diaper into contact with such a bedridden patient. In case of exchanging the diaper, since patient's waist is opened, offensive odor is generated and the other circumstances arise to cause a nurse, an attendant, adjacent patents in case of a large-scale sick room, and visitors to have to take an attention. Thus, it is remarkably inconvenient in view of mental hygiene. When the patient uses a simple movable flush lavatory near his bed by the aid of a nurse without contact with a diaper, discharge sound and offensive odor cannot be avoided to similarly cause them to be given by unpleasant feeling.